Dana White addresses Israel Adesanya protesting Francis Ngannou's alleged erasure from UFC history: "Blame me for that"

Dana White has just broken his silence on Israel Adesanya's criticism of the UFC production team's decision to omit Francis Ngannou from the UFC 305 Countdown episode. Adesanya had mentioned both Ngannou and fellow Nigerian Kamaru Usman, but only 'The Nigerian Nightmare's' name was kept in the final cut.

Given that 'The Last Stylebender' had indeed mentioned Ngannou alongside Usman, the exclusion of the former UFC heavyweight champion ruffled Adesanya's feathers. Moreover, it led to accusations from the MMA fandom that White and the UFC did so out of spite due to Ngannou having left the promotion back on Jan. 14, 2023.

White, however, has since come out to refute those rumors. In fact, he outright claimed to have not known about it, saying as much on a phone call with renowned combat sports journalist Kevin Iole, who shared the UFC CEO's words on his website.

"My production team are a bunch of rockstars and they are truly f***ing awesome. I make it so hard on them sometimes with some of the crazy sh*t I say, and it's tough. When you asked me about that, I didn't know anything about it. But someone was editing that and made a conscious decision, thinking that was the right thing to do, that that's what we would have wanted, what I would have wanted."

While White was full of praise for his production team, he ultimately took responsibility for the lapse in judgment. He did, however, stress that the decision was not one that he made.

"I didn't know about it and that was nothing that ever came across my desk. I'm in charge of everything production-related, so at the end of the day, the fact that it happened falls on me 100%. It's my responsibility and I accept it. Blame me for that."

White also explained that he had already apologized to Adesanya, who took offense it all. However, his remorse for the incident is questionable, as this is not the first instance of the UFC scrubbing Ngannou from history.

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Dana White never addressed a previous erasure of Francis Ngannou's place in UFC history

Despite Dana White's attempt at damage control, nothing was ever said about the UFC's production team labeling Tafon Nchukwi as the first Cameroonian fighter in UFC history, which is simply not true. The first Cameroonian fighter in UFC history was actually Thierry Sokoudjou, who competed three times in the promotion.

Meanwhile, Francis Ngannou, who pointed out this oversight, was the second-ever Cameroonian fighter in the UFC. Yet, both his and Sokoudjou's place in the promotion's history books were erased.